


All the Time in the World

by onceandfuturekiki



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 04:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6455275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceandfuturekiki/pseuds/onceandfuturekiki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keyleth was pretty sure that the real sentiment of her father’s words hadn’t been “jump into bed with Vax as soon as you get home”, but she had decided to go with a liberal interpretation. A very rough version of this was posted on Tumblr, but this is a far more complete and polished version (the first one was 2715 words long, this one is 3200+)</p>
            </blockquote>





	All the Time in the World

Keyleth was pretty sure that the real sentiment of her father’s words hadn’t been “jump into bed with Vax as soon as you get home,” but she had decided to go with a liberal interpretation.

She hadn’t had to think too hard about what her father had said to know he was right. He was the wisest person she knew, and she was certain he always would be. Some would call it hero worship, the way she was always so quick to follow her father’s advice, to take every word he said as true. But to her, it was simply taking the advice of the smartest man she had ever known. And in this case, she was sure he knew what he was talking about. His words came from firsthand experience.

Vax had certainly been surprised to find her at his door, as it was usually the other way around, with _him_ knocking on _her_ door and waiting with baited breath to see if he’d be allowed entrance. He’d been even more surprised when she’d kissed him as the door closed behind her.

He’d pulled back, a question in his eyes, uncertainty warring with the hope that always seemed to be there when he looked at her.

“I just want to be happy,” she’d told him, her voice shaking.

That had been enough for him.

It hadn’t been what she’d expected. Granted, she hadn’t thought  _that_  much about it. It wasn’t something that she’d ever planned, and while she’d had vague thoughts about the topic mixed in with all the other confusing thoughts that had been swirling around inside of her head about Vax since Whitestone, it was never something she’d imagined in any kind of detail. Instead, she had mostly been running on instinct, driven by nothing more than the knowledge that she didn’t want to waste a single second more than they already had, and the  _need_  to just be as close to him as she could possibly be.

It was just so much  _more_  than anything she could have possibly imagined. The way Vax had gently pushed her against the door when he finally got the message that, yes,  _this_ was what was happening. The way he’d lifted her like she weighed nothing , his hands gripping her thighs under her nightgown, her legs wrapped around his hips, the fabric of his clothes pressed against the skin on the inside of her legs. The way he’d looked at her as he lowered her onto the bed, his eyes searching hers, always searching, for the answers to questions Keyleth wasn’t even sure she understood, and softening as though he’d finally found them. The softness of the mattress beneath her, her ankles hooking together behind his back to keep him close to her, to keep him from moving away. His hands had been so gentle as he undressed her, slowly, as though he was savoring every moment, his touch and his hands gliding along her body sending electricity through her skin and making her tremble. She’d almost been embarrassed by how frantic her hands were in contrast, shaking with need as she pulled off his shirt, desperate to feel his skin against hers. He hadn’t seemed to mind, though, looking down at her with adoring eyes and leaning down to press a long, soothing kiss to her forehead.

“It’s all right,” he’d whispered, keeping his lips pressed above her brow, stroking her hair. “We have all the time in the world.”

Obviously, that wasn’t true. There were dragons out there looking to destroy the world. And they had already wasted so much time.

But the feeling of his skin pressed against hers, warm and strong, his palm on her thigh, moving in lazy strokes, and his lips, gentle and comforting as he whispered to her, had calmed her.

Lying in bed the next morning, she marveled at how the night itself had blurred together, warm and fuzzy and wonderful, to the point where she had no sense of time or structure, while individual moments and details stood out with crystal clear clarity. She could remember with perfect recall how it felt when Vax had dug his fingers into the skin of her hip, sighing into her ear as his breath moved across her neck, but she couldn’t remember if that had happened before or after his nose had brushed against hers as he pulled back to look into her eyes, the love and need there taking making her heart stutter, before he moved his lips to her throat, the sensation of his stubble making her shudder, her hands grasping at the back of his head, his hair sliding between her fingers. All of those single moments, so clear in her memory, so perfectly detailed, ran together with the blur of _feeling_ , of feeling safe and wanted and loved, the whole night becoming soft and warm around the edges.

Keyleth had been expecting it to hurt, but when he was finally inside of her, pain was not what she felt. At first she couldn’t quantify it, the rush of sensation and emotion nearly sending her into sensory overload. He had waited for her, just as he always had, and it was the wonder that came to her when he finally started moving that put everything into complete focus. It felt like she had found a piece of herself that she’d been missing, as though she was finally being put back together after looking so long for something she hadn’t even realized she’d lost. And the way Vax’s eyes had met hers, tender and loving, but filled with something like awe, she’d known he felt the same.

From there it was a blur of something that went beyond pleasure, that was just as intense as it was soft and hazy. Curled into the blankets of his bed the next morning, she could remember the exact sensation of the way his lips felt on her as he undressed her, marking every inch of skin he uncovered, the flash of his teeth against her collar bone when she moved in a certain way, and the way her name sounded when he whispered it into the space between them, when he moaned it into her skin, when he gasped it into the night around them. She remembered the way she felt like she was going to burst just from _feeling_ it all, from his presence all around her, inside of her, making her feel like she was drowning at the same time as she was taking her first breath.

She looked at him now, the morning sun only just starting to peek in through the windows. They were lying in his bed, facing each other, just as they had fallen asleep. No words had been exchanged between them after. They had simply watched each other for a long time, their bodies close and their faces only inches apart. She had felt his eyes on her long after hers had finally drifted closed, and she fell asleep feeling safer than she had since she was back home with the Air Ashari.

Remembering the feeling from the night before, she suddenly felt the need to have his eyes on her again, the desperation of it clawing at her chest, making her restless. She shifted, tangling their legs further together and savoring the feeling of her skin moving against his.

Vax was holding her close, even in his sleep, his arms strong against her, one hand resting between her shoulder blades, the other tangled in her hair. Keyleth had slept with her cheek pressed to his chest, his heartbeat against his ear, and one arm around him, just as his was around her, her own hand pressed into its match on his back. Now, though, she had her hands pressed to his chest, leaning back to look at his face as he slept.

Even in the group’s happiest moment, there was always something about Vax’s face that looked hard and worried. It was there even when he slept, as she’d noticed back at the Keep, during the night they’d spent together.

It hadn’t left his face completely, but Keyleth could see that it had lessened somehow, the line between his brows less deep, his frown less pronounced. She brought her hand up, running her fingers along his cheek, bringing one finger up to caress the line above the bridge of his nose with a soft touch. His face softened even further as her hand moved back to his cheek, his lips curling into the beginning of a smile, and he turned his face into her palm as he stirred, pressing a kiss there.

His arms tightened around her, pulling her closer as he breathed in deeply. Her heart started picking up speed inside of her chest and her arms squeezed around him as if on instinct, the need to be as near to him as physically possible suddenly making her skin itch. He didn’t seem to mind, sighing as he kissed her hand once more. Sleep still traced the edges of his voice when he said, “I am so happy it wasn’t a dream.”

She laughed, pulling back so she could look into his eyes.  “No. That  _definitely_  wasn’t a dream.”

The smile that stretched across his face was bigger than any she’d seen on him in a long time. His eyes met hers, tender and happy, as his hand stroked her back, her shoulder, down her arm. The pads of his fingers, slightly rough, against her naked skin lit up her nerves, exciting her and making her pulse quicken even more, the edges of the moment already starting to blur. She sighed as her eyes drifted closed, letting herself sink into the feeling. His lips brushed against her hairline, then her forehead and down her nose. Her eyes still closed, she turned her head up, expecting him to touch his lips to hers. When a long moment went by without that happening, she opened her eyes, confused.

Vax was watching her, his gaze soft as his eyes traced her face. Her heart fluttered as they watched each other, and as his hand moved around to trace his fingers over her collar bone, her breathing started to pick up. “Do I have to  _ask_  you to kiss me now?” she quipped, her voice slightly breathless.

He let out a chuckle, tracing his fingers up her neck and down her jaw, stroking her chin with his thumb as he pressed his lips to hers, his touch gentle, as though he thought she might disappear. Just as the night before, it was Keyleth’s touch that was more aggressive, more needful. She met his soft kisses with firmer, more forceful ones, pressing her body into his insistently. Vax kept his touch light, soothing her eagerness with delicate kisses as he slowly turned her on to her back. She took his face into her hands, pulling him down to her, as she tried to use her legs to position him on top of her.

Despite her efforts, he kept to his calming touches, soothing her with his lips. Pushing her back against the pillows gently, he met her eyes for a brief moment before dropping a kiss to her panting mouth, staying there only a moment before dragging his lips down her chin, then her neck, the pressure he applied remaining gentle, almost feather light. Keyleth wound her fingers through his hair as he continued his journey downward, where he pressed a long kiss above her heart, then turned his head to rest his cheek against her heartbeat, lingering there for a moment. When she started to think she might burst from waiting any longer, Vax moved, his lips brushing over the same spot before dragging them to the center of her chest and kissing down her sternum, between her breasts, his hand trailing over her ribs as he went.

“Vax!” she gasped, arching into him, trying to lock her legs around him. She felt him pause for a moment before his lips followed their path back up her chest. After leaving a long kiss at the pulse point in her neck, he pulled back and looked down at her, concerned.

Keyleth wound one arm around Vax’s middle, trying to pull him into her. “Vax!” she breathed out again, her desperation palpable. Throwing her head back against the pillow, she closed her eyes and let out a whimper.

The light touch of his fingers in her hair and the feeling of him moving off of her to rest at her side was not what she was expecting.

Her eyes opened in confusion and she looked at him. He was at her side now instead of between her legs, but he still held himself over her, supporting himself on his elbow, his fingers tracing over her jaw. “Kiki,” he murmured. “What’s wrong?”

She blinked, her eyes suddenly burning, but she wasn’t sure where the tears were coming from. Embarrassed, she tried to turn over onto her side so her back would be to him, but his reflexes were too fast, the hand at her jaw quickly moving down to her ribs to hold her place.

When he was certain she wasn’t going to try to move again, he brought his hand up to brush her hair back soothingly. “We have all the time in the world.” His repeated words from the night before set her off, and a tear escaped one eye, trailing down her cheek.

“No, we don’t,” she whispered.

Vax sighed, moving his hand down to cup her cheek. “Keyleth-“

“No,” she stopped him. “We don’t have all the time in the world. There are dragons _destroying_  the world. We could die tomorrow. We could die next week. It doesn’t matter. We don’t have all the time in the world.”

The line between Vax’s brows deepened as he frowned, and more tears sprung to Keyleth’s eyes as she watched the hardened, lost look return to his face. “I thought,” he started haltingly, his voice quiet. “Last night, when you came to the door… I thought… what your father said… I thought that you…” He moved away from her then, to the other side of the bed, laying on his back.

Keyleth followed, hoping that he would open his arms to her, but he put his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling, the creases in his face becoming more prominent as his frown grew deeper. She could feel him shutting down, and she pressed herself close to him. “I  _have_ ,” she insisted, leaning over him, her hand against his heart. “What my father said was right. There’s no point to living if I’m just going to be so afraid of pain that I refuse to let myself be happy. I want to be happy. I want to be happy with  _you_. You make me happy.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Vax asked, some of the heartache on his face morphing into confusion as he brought a hand up from behind his head to caress her cheek.

“We can’t beat dragons with the power of love, Vax. Us being in love isn’t going to somehow magically stop one of us from dying. We don’t have all the time in the world to be together. We might just have now.” She closed her eyes again, hoping to stave off the tears. “Just because I’ve decided to let myself be happy with you doesn’t mean that I’m not still scared. The world could end. You could run off tomorrow and do something stupid and I could still lose you.”

She heard Vax take in a deep breath, his thumb sweeping over her cheek. “I wish I could promise you that everything will be okay,” he started, his voice low and quiet. “I wish I could promise you that we’ll defeat the dragons and that neither of us will get hurt. I wish I could give that to you.” His thumb swept close to the corner of her eye, and she finally looked at him, expecting to see the same look on his face that was there when she closed her eyes. She was surprised to see an expression of sureness, the same kind he wore when he was picking a lock he  _knew_  he was going to get. “But as for me running off and doing something stupid… Your father asked me to stay safe. If you’re going to follow his advice, I probably should, too.”

Keyleth searched his eyes and smiled, not trusting her voice enough to say anything.

“I’m really going to try,” he continued, “to stay safe. I know now, what the pain of watching someone you love die truly is. I don’t want to do that to any of the people I care about. I don’t want to do that to my sister. And I especially don’t want to do that to you, knowing everything that would mean.”

“Vax,” she breathed out, leaning in to kiss him, the frantic aggression from before gone. She felt Vax’s head shift slightly as he moved his remaining hand out from behind his head and brought his arms around her, rolling her onto her back.

When they separated, he smiled down at her, the lines of his face softening. “I’m not going to pretend like I know a lot about being happy, but… it does seem like it’s harder to be happy if you’re too scared to enjoy it.”

“I want to happy,” Keyleth said, repeating her words from the previous night.

“I want to be happy, too,” Vax said, a hint of surprise in his voice, as though the thought had never before crossed his mind. “I want to happy with you. I  _am_  happy with you.”

“I’m happy with you, too,” she said, her smile growing as she shifted, bringing Vax’s body closer to hers, allowing him to move further on top of her as her hand moved up to the scar on his back. “I love you.”

His smile wide and his eyes tender, he responded with, “I love you, too.” Then he leaned down, his lips brushing hers softly. She responded in kind, meeting him with slow, unhurried kisses, as his fingertips skimmed down her neck, over her collarbone, then down to her ribs, brushing over the side of her breast on the way. Shivering, Keyleth felt her nerves coming to life again, but her need was no longer as frantic and desperate as it had been earlier.

“Now what?” she asked, her voice coming out more as a moan as Vax’s lips moved down her neck, over her shoulder, and across her collar bone.

“Now,” he said, pulling away just enough to look up at her. “I’m going to make love to you once more. And I’m going to take my time.” Keyleth gasped at his words, at the feeling of his breath on her skin, and at the look in his eyes. “And then we’re going to go downstairs, have breakfast with our friends, and figure out how to kill these dragons. How does that sound?”

“That sounds wonderful,” she replied, her hand running through his hair. “I love you.”

“And I love you,” he said, pressing a kiss between her breasts before starting to move his lips lower. “And I’m looking forward to showing you just how much.”

 

 


End file.
